Giro d’Italia Stage 6: Mads Completes Grand Tour Trilogy in Napoli

Mads Pedersen of Trek Segafredo secured his first career stage victory at the Giro d’Italia today with a sprint win in Naples just ahead of Bahrain’s Jonathan Milan. seconds after the peloton reeled in the day’s breakaway. The win gave the Danish former world champion a stage win in all three grand tours, the 103rd rider all time but just the second Dane after Jesper Skibby to achieve this feat.

Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Simon Clark and Alessandro De Marchi, pictured above approaching Napoli, held what looked like a sufficient lead coming into the city, but with strong headwinds blowing in off the Gulf of Naples, their run for the line was a strenuous one indeed. With 3km to go it looked like the organization in the chasing peloton was faltering and they would make it home. But inside 1500 meters the peloton could see the pair up ahead, spurring on the chase again. The bunch swept past the two at 300 meters to go, with Movistar’s Fernando Gaviria launching from distance, but the favorites were all in position across the wide seaside boulevard. Pedersen was well placed in the center and finished the job, just ahead of the furious head-bobbing Milan, then Pascal Ackermann of UAE, while yesterday’s winner Kaden Groves of Alpecin Fenix took fourth.

Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images

The Giro’s sixth stage was blessed with sunshine as the rain clouds in the area decided to bypass the Amalfi Coast and other magnificent sights of this stage, a tourist’s dream without quite so many tourists (just yet). Top favorites Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic enjoyed relatively smooth sailing, compared to yesterday’s madness at least, and apart from a Roglic mechanical late in the stage that didn’t cause any time loss. Evenepoel talked and rode as if yesterday’s crashes didn’t leave him as sore and miserable as anticipated. Andreas Leknessund held the maglia rosa for another day, though he will be hard-pressed to hold on tomorrow as the race ascends the Campo Imperatore and Gran Sasso ski area base 2100 meters up from today’s finish line.

Results:

1. PEDERSEN Mads, Trek - Segafredo, 3:44:45
2. MILAN Jonathan, Bahrain - Victorious
3. ACKERMANN Pascal, UAE Team Emirates
4. GROVES Kaden, Alpecin-Deceuninck
5. GAVIRIA Fernando, Movistar Team6018

Napoli - Napoli 162 km

Some Amalfi coast, some sprinting, should be fun.

Expected finish time: 17:00-17:25 CEST

Diego of the Day : Mads Pedersen

Broken clock time.

Official site , Startlist